This invention relates to a method of combatting microorganisms. In a particular aspect, this invention relates to a method of combatting microorganisms by the use of a member of the class of substituted oxazolines.
H. L. Wehrmeister, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,509,260 disclosed that oxazolines wherein X in the formula below is H.sub.2 and R.sup.2 is the terminally unsaturated decene radical were effective bactericides and fungicides. Such compounds have many advantages. They contain no halogens and are of a very low order of toxicity to warm-blooded animals; they readily hydrolyze with rupture of the ring in the presence of an acid, so such compounds are non-persistent. Because of these properties they do not constitute a threat to the user nor to wildlife that might encounter them. There is however a continuing need for additional anti-microbials, especially those of the oxazoline class.